Help, Please! Half bricked my WRT54GL 1.1

I'm a noob with these 3rd party firmwares for the WRT's, however, have extensive networking knowledge. . . I've been following the forum for a few weeks now and been doing my reading to a grip on what to do, how to do it, etc.

I need a client set up in another room and loved the 'geeky' :wink: way to get it from a WRT54GL 1.1 rather than shelling out the additional cash to get a specific device. Not to mention, I could turn the router into something else should I have needed to at a later point in time.

So. . . I got the WRT54GL 1.1 yesterday. Looking at all the firmwares, Tomato looked like a nice one and proved to give me just what I was looking for.

The installation looked pretty straight forward. . . flash 1.06 from the Linksys GUI, 'Upgrade Firmware'. I did this, it completed, I was patient and let the router sit for 5 mins.+. It sat on the 'Upgrade Successful/Continue Button' page for this 5 mins. The router never rebooted or changed pages, so I unplugged it to reboot it. Well, at that point, "brick," or at least half brick.

The power light on the front just blinked and the router never booted. I kept my wits and went back to reading. The router was returning pings -- I get 4 good pings for every 4 bad pings, so I was halfway alive -- at least, enough for me to TFTP the original Linksys firmware back onto the device (the TFTP only took 10 secs or so which was alarming -- I figured this process would take MUCH longer). I was able to get the device to boot again (into the Linksys GUI) after this -- even though it seemed to take a lot longer to boot than it did originally (30 secs or so). I reset the device to factory defaults and then tried the process again. When flashing this time, however, about 80% into the process the GUI returned the dreaded 'Upgrade are failed.' dialog.

So, I now seem to be stuck. . . I can get the Linksys firmware back onto the device (TFTP), but even when I do, the router still doesn't seem "normal." For example, reset to factory defaults doesn't return -- the router must be manually rebooted. So, something is not right, even when returning to the Linksys firmware. The problem is, I can't see how to get Tomato (or any other firmware for that matter) onto the unit now.

Sorry for the long post, but can anyone of you experienced people please assist me in trying to get the router back to its original state, get another firmware on it where I can clear the NVRAM, or do whatever so that I can get it back to a state where I can get Tomato on it -- as I originally wanted to do. I would figure since I get pings, can TFTP, etc. that it's probably not a lost cause at this point. . . If so, I can return it -- I can get the Linksys GUI back on it. :smile: I'm still not sure why the original upgrade to Tomato failed. The file was the correct size/downloaded correctly, flashed accordingly, I was patient when it completed, etc.

I'm going to try and put DD-WRT mini on it and see where I get, but any detailed help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!! I couldn't seem to find a similar scenario out there when researching the problem.

dude.. try replacing your ethernet cable.
this sounds quite irregular and not like a software problem. if it doesn't work even after trying another cable and from another computer, you should return it if possible.

Okay, since posting my original message, I've tried a few things. . . Different cable, different machine, etc.

No matter what I do, I can only get the Linksys firmware installed on the unit. NO OTHER 3rd party firmware will install. They all fail during the GUI upgrade process with 'Upgrade are failed.'

I never am unable to ping the unit, so it's not bricked. I just get upgrade failures from the Linksys GUI, need to then TFTP the Linksys firmware back to the unit (and, no, I can't TFTP any other firmware without it failing as well -- 'incorrect pattern'), and let the unit reboot. It comes back alive with the Linksys firmware, no problem. I can even upgrade the Linksys firmware from the Linksys GUI successfully -- even though I have had more than a few occasions where this also failed with 'Upgrade are failed.'

Basically, it seems no matter what do (reset 30 sec., reload Linksys firmware, etc.), I can't get the unit back to its stock/original state to install an alternate firmware. Again, Tomato installed from the Linksys GUI originally (the first time I flashed). I got the 'Upgrade is successful.' page. I was just never able to boot the unit into Tomato. . . This is when this pattern started.

Any other suggestions that I might try in order to get this thing clean and back to where I might be able to chuck another firmware on it before I RMA the thing?

At least I can get the Linksys firmware back on it and working so the return won't look obvious. :biggrin:

I could not TFTP any firmware and get the router to boot, other than the Linksys firmware. Linksys' own firmware, once up, would not even update itself from the Linksys GUI without giving me a 'Upgrade are failed.' message.

Bottom line, I think there is something wrong with this router as none of this behavior seems "normal". I have already processed a RMA. Maybe I'll have better luck with the next v1.1.

if I remember correctly:tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT code.bin code.bin
double code.bin is recommended, one local one remote I think...
I also had this with one of my routers and I connected it through a switch and configured a static IP on the computer ONLY then I was able to TFTP recover.

I have used Firefox from day one (with Tomato) and never had any problems. This sounds the unit to me too. The first time I flashed with Thibor I used IE and had no problems. (never TFTPed until I bricked my G trying to Overclock it)

I tried everything mentioned in the above threads (except for the finger in my eye :wink: ) before processing the RMA today.

Again, being that I can't even update the official Linksys firmware (to itself) after getting the unit operational, running the Linksys 4.30.9 firmware (GUI), I suspect there has to be something wrong with the H/W (I'd get a 'Upgrade are failed.' dialog.)

Linksys' firmware was the only firmware that would load and operate on the unit AND THEN it seemed you couldn't even use the upgrade firmware option AT ALL, regardless of what you wanted to load. . . ANY load of ANY firmware would fail. At least I was able to TFTP the Linksys firmware back onto the thing before sending it back for replacement! It also seemed that the units boot time increased to around 30-40 secs. after all this madness. Strange stuff, man, strange stuff!

We'll see how the next unit treats me. . . Hope it's better than this one. These 3rd party wares look outstanding! I'm anxious to check them out.